Twenty-Ninth Saturday in Ordinary Time

Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face. Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD? Or who may stand in his holy place? He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain.

As Christians we long to see God’s face. We strive to be good and faithful so one day we might be found worthy to join God in Heaven and spend eternity in the presence of the Beatific Vision. We want to join with all the angels and saints and sing our God’s praises forever and ever. We hope to ascend the mountain of the Lord and stand in the holy place of Heaven. This dream is only possible because of Jesus, who although sinless died for our sins and cleansed us all of our imperfections and iniquities. So, let us thank God for granting us such a compassionate brother in His Son, Jesus Christ.

Do we long to see God’s face more than anything else in this world? Do we strive to ascend to Heaven by following the Way, the Truth, and the Life of Christ? How can we more perfectly imitate our sinless brother, Jesus?

O Lord, we long to ascend to Heaven and see your face.

Amen.

Seventh Saturday of Easter

The just will gaze on your face, O Lord. The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD’s throne is in heaven. His eyes behold, his searching glance is on mankind.

We can scarcely imagine what it will be like to gaze on the face of God. What will we see? What will we feel? Will we find God smiling at or frowning upon us? Will He be happy or sad? What we will see is probably beyond our ability to envision, but one thing is for certain, God will look upon us lovingly as a Father, a Brother, and an Advocate. He will not excuse or overlook our failings, but He will temper His Justice with Divine Love and Mercy. He will look into us and search our minds, hearts, and souls for the truth. If He finds the Good News within us, He will rejoice at our coming and bring us into Heaven. If He finds imperfections within us, but hearts that strived to be good, He will send us to the purifying fires of Purgatory until we are truly ready for Paradise. If, however, He finds us empty of good words and works, then He will cast us away, not because He wants to, but because we chose to deny Him in our actions. So, let us hope God will find us to be good and faithful servants so we might come into His Holy Temple and see His Divine Face.

When God looks at us at this moment, what does he see? How can we show Him a better version of ourselves? What can we do to help others to be filled with love, mercy, and grace?

O Lord, make us just so we might gaze upon your face.

Amen.